Tired of wasting lead. Bullet trap ideas?

[powderhombre]

with things being what they are on the supply side I'd like to capture my lead. Does anyone have any ideas on a homemade bullet trap? Something light weight, easy to transport? Something commercial that maybe out there? thanks

 

[Dark Wolf]

I have read about filling a 5 gallon bucket with play sand and a sheet of rubber directly under the lid. Sure wouldn't be light weight, though.

I will be interested in seeing the replies you get.

DW

 

[rafterob]

Square 4-5 gallon bucket with one side cut out and lined with innertube-type rubber. Fill with sand.

 

[rafterob]

Beat me to it!

 

[Nameless Hunter]

How would you define light weight? That little specification has a big impact on the size/shape of a portable bullet trap.

 

[TFoley]

No matter how heavy it starts off, it's going to get heavier with every shot you fire into it.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Light weight and bullet trap don’t go together unless you’re firing something very weak.

 

[Whitworth]

For pistol and round ball rifles I shoot into 2 foot thick slices of Poplar log about 2 feet in diameter with the grain. For transporting a slice about 8 inches thick will do and can be rolled into place like a tire. After it's well shot up I cut about about 6 inch thick piece off the log and put it thru the splitter many times and retrieve the lead, then burn the wood and missed bullets melt and wind up in the ash pan. My 100 yard Whitworth and Minie trap is a pile of mulch backing up three 8 inch slices of log. YMMV

 

[tenngun]

We built a frame of 2x6 with ply wood and filled with sand. It will stop a ball at twentyfive yards. And you can cover the front with cardboard as needed.

 

[waarp8nt]

Often thought about building a snail trap, there was a fellow on the popular online auction site selling them for a reasonable price. Made of steel so not really all that light, but should be durable.

Figured if I ever built one I would use AR500 steel for the impact side and something lesser for the rest of it.

 

[PathfinderNC]

This is a really good thread. It’s such a waste of reusable lead, though an enjoyable waste!

 

[okcaveman]

I took a square bucket, and a piece of horse stall mat filled with sand. Horse stall mat keeps the sand from escaping. My 36 barely makes it half way. Im now considering getting a 30 gallon plastic drum, filling with sand, and using plywood baffles. Laying on its side and shooting through the lid, should stop anything id ever shoot

 

[Brokenbear]

In SASS competition we shoot steel targets ..8 to 16" square with the bottom behind the top by about 4/5" ..the bullet trajectory immediately goes straight down to the ground ..in 10's of thousands of rounds I have fired or seen fired I have never seen/heard a bullet doing anything but staying put on the ground ..no special pits, catch boxes or what ever ...

Seems to me a simple 2 wheel freight dolly with folding frame built on the bottom with a 4'X4' open top 1/2" bottom box as the bullet catcher

Go to range ..dolly out you bullet dolly ..lay the dolly down ..raise your frame ..hang at the proper angle your piece of 3/8" steel ..place your box in front of it ..empty you burlap bag of cushioning into the 4X4 and fire away

Cushioning ideas:
crumb rubber from a recap shop
mulch
peat

You would have to work on it as to making it manageable portability wise but the principle of the steel dumping the bullet straight down you can bank on

Keep us posted
Bear

 

[Nazgul58]

I was putting in a culvert on the farm and dug a 6' wide by 30' pit into the hillside for dirt to fill the ditch. It is my shooting pit. Use the bucket to skim the dirt and retrieve the lead......Not very portable though...

Don

 

[Brokennock]

That steel target with the tire around it mentioned in the target steel topic seem good for portable target and trap.

Best bullet trap/backstop I've worked with is the shredded rubber "mulch" piled up. It is amazing what this will stop. Never figured a good way to make this portable.
The ballistic blocks of rubber we got from the same company would be second best,,,, and the smaller ones would be fairly portable. No worse to carry than 5 gallon bucket of sand.

What do you plan to have beyond your portable backstop?

 

[BrianL]

Take an old pressure tank from a well or compressor and cut the end off.Line the inside with the tread of old tires to protect the walls. Throw the sidewalls in for a base layer. Fill with rubber landscape mulch. Top with more sidewall and plastic bags to seal. Fabricate target frame. Put on side in wheelbarrow for portable use or on stand for stationary use. I have tested at 50 yards with 3006 fmj and got 8-10" of penetration. I shot into one of mine all summer and harvested 77 lbs of lead. I use a wheelbarrow mounted version insde my shop for test firing repaired guns and pistol practice in the winter.

 

[BrianL]

PORTABLE STRAPPED TO OLD WHEELBARROW

 

[BrianL]

STATIONARY WITH CHAIN TO LIFT AND DUMP INTO TUB FOR RECLAIMATION OF LEAD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You get a square piece of AR500 steel for targets. You build a frame with a box on the bottom where the steel can sit leaning 20 - 30 degrees forward, and you fill the box below the leaning steel with sawdust. The lead or lead alloy bullets strike the steel, and are deflected down into the sawdust for later recovery. There is no sand so you don't have to worry about getting the sand and lead apart when you recast. Imbedded sawdust in the lead will burn off and residue will form on the surface of the melted lead as slag. OH and you can remove the plate from trap and use it as a target at a shooting event if you wish.

LD

 

[Pablo232]

with things being what they are on the supply side I'd like to capture my lead. Does anyone have any ideas on a homemade bullet trap? Something light weight, easy to transport? Something commercial that maybe out there? thanks

I have not tried this for black powder, but the same thing might work. I needed to make a simple air pistol pellet trap. Made a square box frame. Fixed a piece of Kevlar cloth that I had to the top leaving the bottom loose with a bit of weight attached to the bottom, so that it could swing.

Same thing might work with a target frame and two or three layers of the cloth hanging and maybe a sandbag on the bottom to reduce the amount of swing. I believe the leaf bags for lawn mowers to be made of Kevlar cloth, or it is available in sheets.